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Article Title

Work History and Later-Life Labor Force Participation: Evidence from a Large Telecommunications Firm

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between later-life labor force participation and work history. Survey data on 1,805 Bell Canada early retirees show that 40% returned to work, of whom 17% took full-time employment, 51% took parttime employment, and 32% became self-employed. Return to work was positively related to work attachment and tenure in the last job, and negatively related to having been in a non-managerial occupation and lacking upward career mobility. Those with high attachment to work (as measured by responses to several survey questions) were more likely to return to full-time employment than to retire. Clerical workers were less likely than managers to choose parttime employment over retirement. Both lateral (versus upward) mobility in the last job and high work attachment were negatively related to the choice of selfemployment over retirement.

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